Helping
by Catelyn Hudson
Summary: After Sectionals, Marley needs serious help, and finds it in an unexpected person.
1. Fainting

**I don't own Glee. If I did, half of the cast would be bisexual and Hunter's and Britt's cats would be the cutest couple ever.**

**Well, remember season one, when ND stayed in a room while the other glee clubs performed? Well, this story's sectionals will be like that. I think that's the only thing I changed.**

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Sebastian sang the last note and the lights were out. They left the stage. New Directions was already there, waiting to be called. Some Warblers said good luck to them. They all went back to their room, except for Hunter. He decided to stay and watch.

A man announced that New Directions were the next club to perform. All the boys entered the stage, except for a blonde with a big mouth. The song started, and he entered making a strange dance with his legs and hands.

The song was _Gangnam Style_. Hunter couldn't help his surprise. They were going to sing Korean? Isn't it a _bit_ hard-to-learn language?

The girls entered and one of them started singing. She was Asian. Well, maybe she was Korean or something.

Or not. She didn't sound as... Korean as PSY.

And their dance was just... They had no creativity. It was almost the same thing as the video. He was a little angry at that. The Warblers worked so much at their choreography .. It wouldn't be fair if they lost for _that_.

At some moment he noticed that one of the girls wasn't feeling well. She danced weakly, like she didn't have energy for that. Unlike the others, she wasn't smiling. He was honestly worried about her. His anger grew. Didn't her friends notice she was about to collapse? Didn't their _coach_ notice that?

In the end of the performance, the obvious happened. She fainted. The guy who was next to her carried her to backstage. Before he could think of what he was doing, Hunter grabbed her body and carried to a chair, where he sit. "She needs food", he said. "Someone brings food for her."

An adult appeared there. Good, Hunter thought, he was going to take care of her. To his surprise and disappointment, the man told ND to go back to stage before they got disqualified. His anger grew again. "While that", he said to the man, "you could bring her food. She needs it more than you need your win."

The man opened his mouth to say something, but Big Lips came to Hunter. "You're Hunter Clarington, right?" He nodded. "They're calling you. The judges said the Warblers won."

He gave the girl's body to Big Lips and stood up. "Take care of her now, since you didn't seem to have done it when you had the chance to", he said as he entered the stage to receive Sectionals' trophy.


	2. Eating

After receiving Sectionals trophy, Hunter decided to go check if the girl was okay. He told the Warblers to go back without him; he would go later by bus. He didn't want his colleagues (he wasn't sure if he could already call them friends) to wait for him because he didn't know what would happen. What if her 'friends' didn't take of her and he had to take her to the hospital?

He found her the ND's choir room, with all the other members around her. She was awake. Crying. Some of them were insulting her, while the coaches tried to calm the group down. He was furious. Did they really blame her for their lost?

"You didn't lose because of her." He almost shouted at them. They turned to see him entering the choir room. The girl looked at him with wide eyes. "It's not her fault if you can't make an original choreography. Your dance just ruined a song that had it all to be awesome." He glanced at the Asian girl, who insulted the fainted one the most. "I should say you were really good, and you were, but your lack of respect ruins your vocal abilities."

The Asian girl looked at him with furious eyes. He grinned and turned to the girl he helped a few minutes before. He offered his hand to her. "Let me help you, Miss..."

The girl spoke for the first time. "Marley. Marley Rose." Her eyes were still wide, and her voice, weak. He gave her a smile of encouragement. "C'mon, Miss Rose. I guess you need some help. I can give you a ride home too and if you want."

Two guys started to run to her side, but she nodded and grabbed his hand. He took her outside the choir room, aware of the looks the rest of ND behind them. Once they were outside, he asked what kind of food she liked. "I... I'm not hungry."

He took her to the auditorium, where he saw a guy selling popcorn. "You're lying, and don't try to convince me that you don't need food. C'mon, tell me what you like or I'll have to guess. I don't know if this would be good."

She gave him a weak smile. "Okay, you win. Popcorn."

He bought her popcorn (thankfully the popcorn guy was still there) and they sit in a couple chairs near them. After a few silent minutes, he asked, "Feeling better?"

She looked at him and smiled shyly. "Yes. Thank you for helping me. I am just wondering why you're doing this. I mean, you should be with your friends. Celebrating your victory."

Oh, the victory. The Warblers were certainly in a party right now. But he didn't care much. "Maybe I should, but I couldn't leave without knowing if you were okay. I mean, I watched the whole performance. I saw how weak you were, and how your colleagues didn't notice it at all. And then I saw you fainting I carried you to a chair and stayed with you until I had to go get the trophy. It would be a little rude to not check you, wouldn't it?"

She glanced at the popcorn and then back at him. "I don't remember you."

"You were unconscious." She blinked. "Oh right. And yes, I guess I would have done the same if I were in your shoes. Thank you again."

He smiled and said nothing. They both stayed silent as she ended her popcorn. None of her colleagues showed up looking for her.

Unlike many people would think, Hunter wasn't a cold guy. He worried about people around him, especially his friends. He was the kind of person who always helped others. That's why he stole ND's trophy and tried to get Blaine Anderson back to the Warblers. His mates, especially Sebastian, had asked him to, since their own attempts failed. He did that to help them. Helping people was just his nature. That wouldn't be different with Marley. He would her as best as he could.

When she finished eating, he offered a ride home. She accepted with a shy smile. They made little talk in the way. "Thank you", said Marley when they arrived. "For the third time", she added chuckling. "But... You haven't said your name this whole time."

He blinked, realizing he hadn't really introduced himself. He smiled. "Hunter Clarington. It was a pleasure to meet you, Marley. Hope we see each other again in better circumstances."

She smiled (not shyly this time). "I hope so too. See you someday, Hunter." She left his car and get in home. He thought of her all his way back to Dalton.

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**Sorry for the late update, but I traveled and did not have time to finish this chapter. Speaking of updates, I'm going to post once a week now on. I write three stories here and other two in a Brazilian site, so I need a week to write good chapters to all of these.**

**So, did you like this chapter? What do you expect for next chapters? Review, guys! I had 222 visitors in chapter one and 7 followers, but only one review (btw, thanks for reviewing pondlilyrue! I dunno what the ship name would be XD). Don't be shy, guys, I love reviews!**

**Before leaving, I have a question for you guys: when do we use "if" and when do we use "whether"? English is not my first language, and I never really learned this thing. Oh, and correct me if I made any grammar mistakes! Every correction makes me improve, and me improving means better chapters ;)**

**XOXO, Catelyn.**


	3. Unburdening

On the next day, Marley didn't talk to almost anyone from Glee Club. The few exceptions were Unique and Finn. The coach was worried. "Sue said she's going to take our choir room. She and Principal Figgins said Glee Club is over. We can't let that happen."

Marley didn't know what to do to help. Finn, Unique and Mr. Schue were the only ones who didn't blame her for their loss at all (Jake and Ryder said they didn't, but she could see the truth in their eyes. They blamed her in some way). She felt she had to help them.

Finn called everyone to the auditorium to re-build ND, but only Marley appeared. She tried to convince Unique, but she said she joined ND to be accepted, and if the members can re-unite, then she would go to other school. Marley cried in the bathroom in lunch time. The only place where she was fully accepted was ruining in front of her and she didn't what to do to stop that. She needed support.

After classes, she caught herself in a bus to Westerville and entering Dalton Academy. Somehow, she managed to find the Warblers' choir room and stood in door, watching their practice.

They were really good. Awesome, to be honest. And they were determined. They would practice the same song as many times as they felt necessary, even if they eventually decided it wasn't a good choice to Regionals. They were so focused in their work that only after twenty minutes someone noticed her presence.

"Hey you!" A blonde guy said. "What's your name, sweetie?" He asked gently, with a warm smile on his face.

"I'm... Marley. Marley Rose." She said hesitantly. Hunter turned to see her and smiled. "Marley! Good to see you here... and better, I guess."

She chuckled. "I'm better now, thanks."

Other guy (she recognized him as the one who sang the One Direction song in Sectionals) turned to see her and then glanced at Hunter. "She's the girl you helped, Hunter?"

Hunter nodded and turned back to her. "You can take a sit if you want. We are deciding our Regionals playlist. Since you are no longer competition, I guess you are welcome here."

Other guys nodded in approval. The One Direction guy smirked. She walked slowly and sat on a couch near the door.

They continued their practice. They would ask her sometimes if that song was good choice, and she would say yes almost all times. They could make any song sound awesome.

They would smile at her when she met eyes with them. Well, the One Direction boy (whose name, she found out, was Sebastian) would smirk, but whatever. She would clap at the end of every song. Some of them would amusingly flirt with her, and she would blush and chuckle every time they did it. Sebastian, Hunter a guy named Thad would make jokes every now and then, and she would laugh at all of them. Nick and Jeff (the blonde who first noticed her) would act like they were some fairy gay couple (no offensive jokes, of course), and she would laugh harder at them. Hunter would glance at her and smile sometimes, and she would return the smile.

In the end, all the Warblers said goodbye to her, telling she could come back anytime. Some even hugged her before leaving. Only she and Hunter stayed there. He sat next to her. "So, what brings you here, Marley?" he asked with a little smile. "Want to talk or just came to see us?"

Marley bit her lip. "Actually, I don't know. I mean, I just... came here. I don't know well why."

He leaned back on the couch. "Something happened."

She nodded. "New Directions is over." Her smile was gone. All the memories of earlier came back, and she did her best not to cry. "What?" He said. She gulped. "The principal said that they couldn't support a glee club that is not able to even get to Regionals. He said the deal had always been to get at least second place in Regionals." She sniffled. "I never heard about this deal."

He hugged her and she couldn't help the tears. "Glee club was the only good part of my day. I lived for glee club! They were my only support! And now all this... shit happens."

"Hey", he whispered gently in her ear. "It's not the end of the world. You have your friends from glee club, even if the club itself doesn't exist anymore. And you saw how the Warblers are supportive. You're always welcomed here. We'll be here for you. I'll be here for you."

She smiled a little at his words, but then truth hit her. "You saw them at Sectionals. Everyone hates me now. And, no offense, but how can you be here for me? We barely know each other."

"I don't need to."

They landed back on the sofa. Marley looked at him and then at the floor. "I have bulimia" she said, still looking at the floor.

Silence. A long, awkward silence. "Have you ever talked to anyone about that?"

"Everyone knows, including my mom. She's saving money for my treatment, but for now I have to fight alone. And Kitty doesn't help. She gives me laxatives. I guess she wouldn't mind if I got crazy... or died. And I can't fight over that. It's just... I don't know. Everyone say I'm skinny, but I can't see it."

"You're beautiful."

That sentence caught her out of her guard. Marley Rose, beautiful? That's impossible. Hunter obviously needed glasses.

She looked at him for a long moment. She was about to say something when he asked, "Who's Kitty?"

She looked back at the floor. Why was she telling him all that stuff anyway? But she couldn't help herself. "A girl in my school. A cheerleader. She was performing at Sectionals."

She turned to face him. His expression was puzzled. He could be happy, sad, angry or with a headache, and she wouldn't tell the difference. Eventually he said, "Do you want to dinner with us? I think it would be better for you. And don't worry, I'll make sure you won't purge after dinner." He grinned, but she knew it was meant to be an encouragement smile. She nodded. "Dinner would be great."

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**Did you like it? I think the end sucked, but I didn't have any better ideas.**

**Next chapter spoiler: Hunter goes all Westerville on Kitty!**

**See you next chapter!**

**XOXO, Catelyn.**


	4. Author's note

I'm posting this in all my stories!

Well, I have bad new for you guys. I should've posted this last month, but I didn't have time to even write this note.

So... I'm in my last school year. I don't know how things work in your country, but here our last year must be fully dedicated to study so we can go to college. This means no life for us :(

I barely go to computer now, and it'll be like this for a long time. My school year started January and will go until early December. I want to go to Medical School, so... NO LIFE AT ALL FOR ME D:

All my stories will be in semi-hiatus. I hope I can write something every now and then, like one chapter in March and another in June or something like that.

Feel free to unfollow my stories. I'll understand it completely.

XOXO, Catelyn.


	5. Arguing

Marley ended up sleeping over in Dalton. When dinner finished it was so late that her mother didn't let her go back come. Hunter and Sebastian managed to find beds and sofas so the girl could sleep comfortably. Hunter drove her home in the morning.

On Monday he went to McKinley. He needed to... discuss some stuff with that Kitty girl.

He thought of waiting Glee club rehearsal, but remembered that it didn't exist anymore. So he went to the football camp, where the cheerleaders were practicing. He walked to their coach. "Ma'am, could I talk to Kitty... I don't know her last name... Anyway, could I?"

The coach looked at him with boredom. "So you wanna talk to one of my girls Warbler guy? Well you're gonna have to wait, because nothing interrupts my Cheerios, nothing! WHY DID YOU STOP? BACK TO WORK, LAZY GIRLS, I DON'T HAVE ALL DAY!"

Hunter waited quietly in the corner, planning his words to Kitty and observing the Cheerios practice. God, that coach scared him. The girls seemed to be scared of her too. Except for Kitty and another blonde girl. They seemed to be the coach's favorites.

There was also the Asian girl and Blaine. But the coach didn't seem to notice them.

[X]

Kitty was told to go to him right after practice. "What do you want, Mr. Blow My Whistle?"

He rolled his eyes. "Really? It is the best insult you can think of? You spend so much time manipulating people you were supposed to help that words don't work well with, I guess."

"What are you talking about? I'm not manipulating anyone."

"C'mon, stupid blonde. I know you've been giving Marley laxatives so she can vomit. You're just making her bulimia worse each day. And she thought you were a friend who understood her and helped her, when all you were doing was ruining her life. Literally! What if didn't faint at Sectional, but died instead? How would you feel knowing you could have saved her, but decided to cause her death? Would you handle the guilt of killing someone? I have no idea what are your sick reasons to do this and I don't want to know. Whatever they are, you should stop now."

Kitty laughed nervously. She was obviously imagining Marley's death and trying not to be affected by his words. "Do you like her or something? Because you should be thanking me. Your team only won Sectional because of me. In any other situation the judges would never give the trophy to a bunch of guys who ask the audience to blow their whistle! You must be really in need of a fuck."

Hunter laughed, confident. "For your information, I can get a fuck for free whenever I want. And you didn't say anything in your defense."

Kitty got angry and called the coach. Hunter took advantage of the situation and told Miss Sylvester about Kitty and Marley.

"Well, Kitty" the coach said, "I guess we need to have a talk with Principal Figgins."

Kitty glanced at him with evil eyes and followed the coach. Hunter grinned. He had won.

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**Yeah, I know it is a very short chapter, but I didn't want to put other stuff in it.**

**My stories are still on semi-hiatus until October. After that I hope I'll be able to post regularly.**

**Next chapter: Jake and Ryder run after Marley... The indecision begins!**

**XOXO, Catelyn.**


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